New Delhi: The new Congress Working Committee (CWC) may be announced by this month's end with party president Mallikarjun Kharge almost completing the 'difficult task' of finalising names, a source close to the development said.
The announcement will be made after seeking the opinions of senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi upon their return from abroad, party sources said.
Veteran party leaders from Kerala, A K Antony and Oommen Chandy, suffering from poor health conditions, may be excluded from the list.
Both had requested the High Command not to consider them again. However, a decision on including them as special invitees will be taken in the coming days. Oommen Chandy will stand down from the responsibility of the general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh as 'he is finding it difficult to travel'.
K C Venugopal, who has emerged as one of the prominent faces of the Congress national leadership is sure to find a place on the list. However, Kharge is reportdedly in a dilemma over including Ramesh Chennithala and Shashi Tharoor in the new working committee.
Though both are prominent leaders, they belong to the same community, and it’s not practical to include both leaders from Kerala apart from Venugopal, the source said.
If equal representation of communities comes into play, then Kodikunnil Suresh may be roped in.
The last CWC was disbursed soon after Kharge had ascended to the post of Congress chief, and a steering committee formed thereafter had assumed the responsibilities.
For the first time, there has been a delay of eight months in the formation of a new CWC.
